Chapter 26

After the man's little display, Terri and I bring him into the headquarters. We aren't sure how stable the building is given it was almost split in two, but the man insists it will remain in its current state for the foreseeable future.

"So, before we continue on with considering you as a new member of our group, I have a few additional questions to ask."

"First off, Yuri, you're going to make me a member no matter what I say second off, I hate drawing this out, so I'll make this as fast as I can. Name, Damian Luciel. Age, 26. Origin story, had this power all my life, I consider life and especially the people in it to be predictable and boring; somehow, though, I'm still on the side of the good guys."

"And your power-"

"The true nature of my power is hard to explain. I gave you the simple version, but it's impossible for someone who isn't me to truly understand how it works. The best way to explain is that my mind is able to process all the actions of everyone and everything that has an impact on the plot. It then forms predictions about the future. It actually forms a large assortment of predictions that all have the potential of becoming true. As certain events come to pass, I can better narrow down the version of the future that will actually happen. I can also manipulate small things in order to affect the likelihood of certain futures. That's how I predicted the lightning when weather is one of the hardest things to predict."

"Wait, does that mean-"

"Lottery; no. You ask that in every future I explain my powers, but the answer is always no. Even if lottery numbers aren't perfectly random, just pseudo-random is enough to make it impossible to predict. I can say that it's a near impossible chance that you will win though."

"But-"

"You will continue to ask about the lottery five to seven more times. I will ask that you skip all that nonsense and continue on. I hope this is the future where you listen to me and give in."

"Ok, if you see multiple-"

"Thank God the lottery stuff is over. No, I don't personally believe in multiverse theory. I'm not seeing alternate timelines, I'm just seeing predictions of what the future could be. I believe that if I alter the chances of a certain future happening, that was always supposed to happen. Yes, it does make me question if we have free will, but then again, since we'll never know for sure, it's a pointless question to let consume you."

"Why are you-"

"Here? Sorry, I couldn't not pull that trick. I'm here to help you fully develop your powers at a faster rate than I believe possible. I am here to prepare you for a threat. Something is coming from beyond that blinding light. Since it comes from outside this universe, I can't predict what it is, but I know it's something that will lead to our world's destruction. In every version of this entities arrival, only a sufficiently prepared and experienced Yuri Sadisuto can defeat it. That is to say, you are the world's only hope."

"I'm the only hope-"

"To save the world. Yes."

"Well, it's about damn time!!!"